By John W. LacherGuest Commentary
I was born shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor precipitated a world war. That war was the background music of my childhood: a refrain which was always present, sometimes frightening, but just part of life. It provided themes for playtime. We were soldiers in the battles. Our imaginary bullets brought a swift and sure end to childhood friends, whom we dispatched dozens of times each day. The only clouds in that quotidian struggle were the children who refused to “play dead” when properly shot first.

Away from the fields of battle, we watched our parents peel paper labels off of tin cans and flatten them to be saved for the war effort, deal with shortages of sugar, meat and gasoline, and purchase war bonds to support the real war. Some of our friends fathers fought and died.

Our parents faced the enemies of worry, shortages of goods, and relatives lost in the conflict. They worked hard, lived simply, and created a safe haven for their children. Alcohol and cigarettes were consumed with abandon.

When that “war to end all wars” ended, a normal life was about to begin for Americans. Well, nearly normal.

It seems as if we were in a contest with the communist world. A “cold war” enveloped us.

This was not a shooting war, but a huge game of chicken. It required nerves of steel. I learned my role and practiced crouching under my desk to protect myself when a nuclear weapon went off. I was also warned to cover my eyes just before the detonation, since the light was so bright I was likely to be blinded. This was the “duck-and-cover” drill.

Looking back on the cold war, it seems an amazing accomplishment. We had that nuclear stalemate for half a century without actually pulling the trigger. There were strident voices arguing for early engagement to destroy a potent enemy. Wiser heads prevailed. Although we had aircraft armed and flying towards the enemy daily, we had no attacks by error.

The trouble with the cold war was that it conditioned us to look at the world as being in a deadly struggle between our democratic/capitalistic system (freedom) and the communistic system (totalitarian). Anything that upset the balance needed a response. When the North Korean army drove south to take over the Korean peninsula, we went in. We did not declare war. It was just a police action. I don’t believe it made much difference to the many young men and women who lost their lives. I missed having to participate in that war. I was too young.

In the same way, we had the Vietnam “conflict.” That sounds better than calling it a war. It seemed to many Americans that the proper thing to do was hold the line in Vietnam. If we faltered, the lined-up dominoes would fall. The communists would win. I lost friends in that one.

My part in the war? I served as a public health physician with the Coast Guard in Baltimore. Among my duties was inspecting the emergency hospital, which had been warehoused in Baltimore. It was to be used in event of major civilian wartime casualties. Everything was packaged in plastic. I was supposed to review it every six months and update older medications and solutions. Unfortunately, each bag was to be resealed using a special U.S. Navy tape. The tape had been discontinued and was not available. I never saw that hospital.

We have had a few other conflicts over the years: the occupation of the Dominican Republic; troops in Lebanon (twice); invading Grenada; the Balkan “conflict”; Somalia; the Bay of Pigs; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Add the bit of bombing in Libya and the occasional cruise missile attack in Yemen and Pakistan and it seems that we have been properly busy.

I am numb with war. We seem ready to engage in a conflict, but somehow these wars seem more removed from directly threatening us. It is as if we have developed a culture of using little armed conflicts as a means of ironing out ripples in the fabric of the world. Wars seem to be just as American as apple pie. We name them something else. Congress discusses them a bit. They are in the morning papers and on the evening news. They are as good entertainment as the sports page or weather forecast.

These are still wars. People die. Civilians suffer and are displaced. And yet, over the past few decades, they seem to be wars of choice. Our choice.

We now have the opportunity of enjoying another war of choice. We can do something, and can justify it on the basis of the evil ones using chemical weapons. Chemical weapons are terrible, but if a person dies from a chemical attack as opposed to a military weapon, does he really care? They are both horrible. These people are not “playing dead.”

We can administer a “shot across the bow.” That is a nice naval term. Place a shot over the bow and the ship captain knows enough to stop. If not, the next shot is waterline. The ship sinks. If our enemy knows that the next shot is not going to be a waterline shot, then it is all just theater. Is it good theater? Will it buy time? Will it affect votes? Will it help our prestige? Will it persuade anybody that America is the greatest country?

Well, I think not. I think it will be one more provocation that will help grow the next generation of anti-American activists. Somebody out there will take umbrage. We are generating the next lifetime of enemies.

Is there a good course to take? Probably not. In this case, I hope we do nothing militarily. I have seen a lifetime of war. I would like to finish out my lifetime without it. We don’t need to generate enemies. I can always duck and cover, but I have children and grandchildren who I hope could live in a less war-prone world.